Aisles

by Paul Magrs

Iris Murdoch pops into an internet chatroom to discuss sex, literature and life-after-death with the impetuous Funkymonkey ... Marion from the delicatessen counter fatally crashes her Fiesta while yelling into her mobile phone ... and the evil Dr Fu Manchu chases Virginia Woolf screaming through the streets of Bloomsbury ... Disasters, secret identities and heart-to-hearts in the middle of the night ... From the wild and unfettered imagination of Paul Magrs comes his most extraordinary novel yet. Ostensibly a week in the life of an ordinary Norwich community, Aisles unfolds into a strange, tender fantasy. The lines between friendship and love, between affection and frustration, between being and not being; all are explored through the complex lives of his characters. A novel for anyone who refuses to accept the ordinary, Aisles is the work of one of literature's most exciting young talents.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[The Master · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following his earlier works of science fiction and magic realism, Magrs changed lanes with some slice-of-life works like this one. Essentially a collection of interconnected short stories, he introduces us to a group of characters who are immediately familiar. Love and hate, life and death, friendship and betrayal are all played out through the eyes of the young, the old and the somewhere in between. We all know people like the people in this book. Funny? Yes. Sad? At times. More than anything, an accurate depiction of life in the 00s.

[Maureen Farrimond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the Brenda and Effie books but it was intelligently written and gave a glimpse into a variety of people's lives all bound together in some way or other!

[Jackie]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11387805